


27 Crosses

by Sanmarino14



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: F/F, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Pre-Canon, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:01:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24700480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sanmarino14/pseuds/Sanmarino14
Summary: Faith had put up her crucifix twenty-seven times before coming to Sunnydale. The chunk of wood had probably been cursed (or blessed, depending on the way you look at it, bad people really gave a good fucking one way or another) to seek out and warn and lure her against the looming powers of evil and stuff.Aka the one where Faith gets a character study of her life before Sunnydale, with some goddamn sympathy for once.
Relationships: Faith Lehane/Buffy Summers
Comments: 1
Kudos: 22





	27 Crosses

Faith had put up her crucifix twenty-seven times before coming to Sunnydale. A wooden effigy of Jesus, given to her by her mother, before bottles piled up and all went to shit. She and her mother never really considered themselves religious, at least in Faith’s mind, the concept of a God deliberately giving her the life she had would be a little too fucked-up to believe to be honest. But it was all five by five, even when it wasn’t, from running away from vamps (the naivety of pre-slayer Faith at the time, enough to make her chuckle) to starving and shivering in the streets, her mother’s voice telling her don’t worry child, it’s all good, could always get worse. It will get worse.

Faith had fucked and been fucked with enough to really make her want to simultaneously discard that cross and never let it go. In all honesty, St. Peter’s plank was more of her type, but it was kinda nice to have a little piece of history in her pocket. When stuff got shitty, she felt it throbbing in her pocket, and when she got shitty, it was nice to have one thing to scoff at, or to feel chastised. Say what you will, but all the parenting she needed that cross made sufficient. 

The last time she hung up the pocket cross was on an ancient oak in Oregon, when she made another last stand against some demons so fucked up she didn’t even know what kind they were. Not like she cared either. Equality for all was her motto, come at me with a grin, I’ll bare my teeth, a spit for spat, a splatter of blood and something dark before its head rolled off. Shitty thing about demons is they always left some reminder behind, even as fine as the dust from a few vamps or the more memorable bile from a rather grotesque crawlie. These suckers gave a parting of green goop all over her front. Oh well. Last thing she remembered about that place was hoping the Y had somewhere to hang a cross in the shower.

Now, her cross burned in her pocket as she danced through the Bronze, hips swinging and gliding through the floor, eyes roaming over guys and girls, looking for new prey of some kind. The chunk of wood had probably been cursed (or blessed, depending on the way you look at it, bad people really gave a good fucking one way or another) to seek out and warn and lure her against the looming powers of evil and stuff.

Took her only about five weeks as a kid to figure out it sensed evil, it almost burned her hands when mom introduced her new father figure of the week, a guy more cartoonish than real. He was like a pantomime of the villains in cartoon shows, dark hair and a crisp suit and a promise by her mother that this was her last time dating; this wonderful, wonderful man of God fell into their laps and Faith would have a new father to throw the ball with and have picnics for the rest of her life.

He didn’t act very fatherly. 

Her mom just stared at Faith in a pill-induced daze as Faith cried and tried to wash the blood off her legs. She was fucking twelve. That was the last time she saw her mom; pity, she should’ve saved a snapshot of her perfect family before she turned around one last time to spit on the doorstep and vanish in the night.

Her crucifix was heating up as she moved towards the exit, blazing for a quick second near the tables, before settling for a luke-warm when a hand appeared on her shoulder. She spun around, ding ding ding, some dude with a god-awful purple khakis was asking if she wanted to go somewhere more private. Honestly, why vampires never actually tried to not look like vampires was beyond her. If you were that stupid or insecure to go out with a man who hasn’t looked like he gave a rat’s ass about appearance since 72’, well, you kinda deserved to be eaten.   
She looked up at him with batted eyelashes, before swaying out of the back door with a crook of her finger and a little extra sway in her hips. She figured the poor guy at least deserved to die happy before he died again.

Fighting this vamp was almost painfully easy. Fights were fun when you had no chance, every battle scar was worth platinum in street cred, and something about the situations that looked so bad it probably seemed like she wanted to die made Faith feel like she was the only person actually breathing in the universe. Unfortunately, this guy was not the case. She did a quick roundhouse and a nice little jab before she heard footsteps gaining on the street. From the way her cross was heating up, hopefully she’d have a little more of a fight. 

She turned around, eyes bright, hair flying, and swear to God, Faith stopped breathing. Blonde girl in black, silver cross on her chest. Like Faith’s.

Something was pounding in her chest, her brain screaming at her to move, forget the vampire, this girl will be the death of you. Her blood turned to ice, and there was a fire stoking right underneath her belly.

“You’re uh, Buffy, right?”

Her cross was searing on fire.

“I’m Faith.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you guys so much for reading! Faith has always been one of my favorite characters, and it's a crying shame Wheadon didn't delve into her backstory more in BtVS. Also any feedback would be greatly appreciated :)


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